FOURTH QUARTER

English Communication Arts and Skills Through Afro-Asian Literature

LESSON 6: READING INDIAN POETRY

The Rain
Translated by Arthur W. Ryder
A Poem by Kalidasa

The rain advances like a king

In awful majesty;
Hear, O dearest, how his thunders ring
Like royal drums, and see
His lightning-banners wave; a cloud
For elephant he rides,
And finds his welcome from the crowd
Of lovers and of brides

The clouds, a mighty army, march

With drum like thundering
And stretch upon the rainbow's arch
The lightning's flashing string;
The cruel arrows of the rain
Smite them who live, apart
From whom they love, with stinging pain,
And pierce them to the heart
Arthur W. Ryder was the one who translated the poem
"The Rain" into English Version. He was a professor of Sanskrit at
the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for
translating a number of Sanskrit works into English, including the
Panchatantra and the Bhagavad Gita in the words of G.R. Noyes.
Taken as a whole, Ryder's work as a translator is probably the finest
ever accomplished by an America. 

The forest seems to show its glee
In flowering nipa plants;
In waving twigs of many a tree
Wind-swept, it seems to dance;
Its ketak-blossoms opening sheath
Is like a smile put on
Now pain and heat are gone
Kālidasa was a Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the
greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language of India.
His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas,
the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. His surviving
works consist of three plays, two epic poems and two shorter
poems.

To bring you,dear, may the cloudy time
Bring all that you desire
Bring every pleasure, perfect, prime,
To set a bride on fire;
May rain whereby like wakes and shines
Where there is power of life,
The unchanging friend of clinging vines,
Shower blessings on my wife.
1. Kalidasa - Kalidasa Biography - Poem
Hunter". www.poemhunter.com. Retrieved 5
October  2015.
2.  Kālidāsa (2001). The Recognition of Sakuntala: A Play In
Seven Acts. Oxford University Press.
pp.  ix. ISBN 9780191606090.
3. Kalidasa at the Encyclopædia Britannica
4. Pollock, Sheldon, ed. (2003).  Literary Cultures in History:
Reconstructions from South Asia.
p. 79.  ISBN  9780520228214.
 THE TAME BIRD WAS IN A CAGE
by: Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

HE tame bird was in a cage, the free bird was in the forest.
They met when the time came, it was a decree of fate.
The free bird cries, "O my love, let us fly to the wood."
The cage bird whispers, "Come hither, let us both live in the cage."
Says the free bird, "Among bars, where is there room to spread one's wings?"
"Alas," cries the caged bird, "I should not know where to sit perched in the sky."

The free bird cries, "My darling, sing the songs of the woodlands."
The cage bird sings, "Sit by my side, I'll teach you the speech of the learned."
The forest bird cries, "No, ah no! songs can never be taught."
The cage bird says, "Alas for me, I know not the songs of the woodlands."

There love is intense with longing, but they never can fly wing to wing.
Through the bars of the cage they look, and vain is their wish to know each other.
They flutter their wings in yearning, and sing, "Come closer, my love!"
The free bird cries, "It cannot be, I fear the closed doors of the cage."
The cage bird whispers, "Alas, my wings are powerless and dead.
 ACTIVITY SHEET
TITLE: Poem Reflections

Name:_____________________________________ Score: _______/15 points. 5 pts. each

DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions in your own words. Lifted answers from the internet or any
resources are invalid if they were not acknowledged properly.

1. What kind of Peace is illustrated by Kalidasa’s poem?

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2. What was the message of the poem, “The Rain”. Discuss your answer.
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3. Do you think we can attain world peace and alliances between nations? Explain your answer. Give concrete
examples about what you can do to help society attain peace and harmony.
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PREPARED BY:

JONATHAN M. MENSALVAS, M.Ed.

Course Facilitator